Ambisonic-centred location sound recording - reinvigorating the observational documentary genre?

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    Abstract

    The art of location-based Sound Recording specifically, has been a neglected area of academic research. I seek to address this by drawing critical attention to the intricacies and skills involved in location Sound Recording within single-camera Observational Documentaries (ObsDocs). I show how this art continues to be central to the creative process of production, in driving the narrative and shaping the text’s influence, within the pro-filmic space.

    I go on to consider the future for location-based Sound Recording within ObsDocs and its place in a new multi-platform, multi-screen consumption space. Examining a case study, I seek to develop and define a new working methodology and aesthetic for the craft and art, predicated on an anticipated resurgence of the ObsDoc genre, centred around opportunities afforded by the emerging technologies of immersive sound: ambisonic microphone arrays being a vital part of that development. Ambisonics is a method for capturing a full 3D sound field, and its genre-bridging adaptability means it can be converted to a dynamically steerable binaural format. I argue that deploying an ambisonic-centred location Sound Recording methodology, fused with the art of recording unscripted actuality Sound within the pro-filmic geographic event-space, will offer new creative opportunities impacts for ObsDoc makers and crucially, tomorrow’s Documentary audiences. Presenting audiences with an exciting new ability to experience the sense of geographical place and physical event that immersive audio delivers, bears the potential of re-invigorating a content driven ObsDoc market, which once again, will foreground the primacy of neglected storytelling capabilities, in a New consumption World.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the AVANCA International Conference | CINEMA 2020
    PublisherEdicoes Cine-Clube de Avanca
    Pages755-765
    Number of pages11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 14 Oct 2020
    EventAvanca | Cinema 2020: International Conference Cinema - Art, Technology, Communication - Avanca, Aveiro, Portugal
    Duration: 22 Jul 202026 Jul 2020
    http://11 th International Conference Cinema - Art, Technology, Communication

    Publication series

    NameAVANCA International Conference | CINEMA
    PublisherAvanca
    ISSN (Print)2184-0520

    Conference

    ConferenceAvanca | Cinema 2020
    Abbreviated titleAVANCA | CINEMA 2020
    Country/TerritoryPortugal
    CityAvanca, Aveiro
    Period22/07/2026/07/20
    Internet address

    Keywords

    • Ambisonics
    • Observational
    • Documentary
    • Sound
    • Recording

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